Cold boot 7850 issues

Hi all,
I haven't posted in quite a while, but I'm a bit stumped at the moment. I'm building a computer for a friend (specs below) and have been having one strange issue. Each time I turn the computer on(cold boot), the motherboard logo screen comes up with two evenly spaced vertical orange bars (artifacts.) At the next screen, there will either be lots of small, unchanging artifacts or just a black screen. The monitor light stays on, indicating the video should be displaying something, but I don't boot into Windows or see anything else until I restart.

Restarting the system allows me to perfectly boot into Windows with no artifacts. Restarting from Windows doesn't cause issues. Turning on the computer after it was recently used (still warm) also doesn't cause issues.

However, I can't give my friend a computer that requires a restart each time it boots up just to get it working properly. I updated the bios to the most recent version (1.30) and have tried both Catalyst 12.10 official drivers and 12.11 beta drivers with no difference.

What can I try next?

system specs: Asrock H77M 1155 mobo, Intel I5 3450(stock), Visiontek 7850 2gb stock clocks, (using 12.11 betas right now) G.Skill 8gb ddr3 1600 cas 8 ram, Samsung 128gb 830 SSD, WD 1.5tb storage drive, Antec EA-430 power supply (new version.) Win 7 64 home premium.

Lastly, to reiterate, the computer has tested stable in prime95, Intel burn test, and several hours worth of game time in "Dishonored" and "Metro 2033," but this issue is really bugging me. I'd appreciate any help I can get. Thanks.

So I swapped out the 7850 for an old Nvidia 9500GT and the problems went away entirely. It would appear that my next move is to return the card for a comparable Nvidia card. Unless someone has something else I could try?

You can't just RMA the card and get a replacement one before jumping the fence?

By all means, though, if you want an Nvidia card instead, go ahead.

Aldakoopa said:

You can't just RMA the card and get a replacement one before jumping the fence?

By all means, though, if you want an Nvidia card instead, go ahead.

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Yea, I could RMA and hope to get a card that doesn't exhibit the same behavior. But because the card isn't "defective," and plays games and movies well, I have no reason to think that a new card would be any different? Do you not agree?

Nvidia seems the safe choice for me. I've never had issues with Nvidia cards and I know this system plays nice with a 9500GT and (I just tried it) a GTX 260.

I know it's a lot of hassle, but if it were me, I would try an RMA replacement first. Even though it works when it's warmed up, obviously there is a defect while it is cold.

Jizzzared said:

Yea, I could RMA and hope to get a card that doesn't exhibit the same behavior. But because the card isn't "defective," and plays games and movies well, I have no reason to think that a new card would be any different?0.

Click to expand...

As you said you are having that issue on the BIOS splash screen I'd like to point out that at that screen drivers aren't in play. Since you have other cards working without the issue it's very likely that your card is "defective" and it's a physical issue. Though I must say, it's not the first time I've heard bad of a Visiontek 7850.

Edit: Speaking of which, when I exceed stable memory frequencies on my 7850 the result is orange. Looking at people barely breaking a 50mhz OC on the memory of VisionTek 7850's makes me wonder if maybe you don't just have some memory on it that's not quite up to the task. There's not much you can do about the frequency of it for the BIOS splash, but you could always see if you have any overclock headroom for the memory in Windows. But it could make it unusable and probably voids the warranty so that's just if you have curiosity like I do.

Aldakoopa said:

I know it's a lot of hassle, but if it were me, I would try an RMA replacement first. Even though it works when it's warmed up, obviously there is a defect while it is cold.

Click to expand...

If this computer were for me, I'd agree. Seeing as how it's for my friend, I need the utmost reliability (and peace of mind for me) and would like to complete the computer within a reasonable time frame.

Hicksimus said:

As you said you are having that issue on the BIOS splash screen I'd like to point out that at that screen drivers aren't in play. Since you have other cards working without the issue it's very likely that your card is "defective" and it's a physical issue. Though I must say, it's not the first time I've heard bad of a Visiontek 7850.

Edit: Speaking of which, when I exceed stable memory frequencies on my 7850 the result is orange. Looking at people barely breaking a 50mhz OC on the memory of VisionTek 7850's makes me wonder if maybe you don't just have some memory on it that's not quite up to the task. There's not much you can do about the frequency of it for the BIOS splash, but you could always see if you have any overclock headroom for the memory in Windows. But it could make it unusable and probably voids the warranty so that's just if you have curiosity like I do.

Click to expand...

Poor memory is possible, but seems unlikely. That doesn't explain the behavior of working completely when warmed up. If it were bad memory, I'm sure I'd see some artifacting in games, which are far more demanding than rendering the boot screens.

As far as overclocking, since this computer isn't for me, there will be no overclocking at all, cpu or video card.